Hey, Folks!
Well, we are back in business!
I must admit that I thoroughly enjoyed my recent “vacation”…for the first two weeks. By Day 15 I was close to losing my damn mind. Thank goodness I had Hillman around to keep me company and playing board games with me or else I would certainly be banging my head against the wall in Arkham.
I’m not sure where to start with this initial return to Editorial. I suppose I should go over the store rules involving our reopening. In no particular order, please remember the following when you visit Monarch post-apocalypse:
- Please wear a face mask while you are in the store. Governor DeWine stopped short of making face masks mandatory for customers, but Steve and I will have our masks on while patrons are in the store. Remember, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!
- Please observe social distancing rules as much as possible within the confines of the store. Of course, I know that the store is the size of a postage stamp and this may get a bit difficult in regards to the New Release rack, but we would appreciate if you didn’t crowd the rack.
- We are only allowing up to 7 patrons into the store at a time. Hopefully this will help with the social distancing issue. If you happen to arrive at the store and the door is locked then please be patient and we will let you in as soon as someone exits. We haven’t actually had to lock the door yet, but I am anticipating it becoming more of a problem next week when the comic delivery day goes back to normal.
- Please limit your visit to 10-15 minutes so that we can continue to keep the line moving and we can cut down on casual exposure. I must admit that I have the biggest mouth at any given time within a five mile square area and I have been starved for comic conversation so if I get a serious case of diarrhea of the mouth while you are desperately trying to get away then feel free to spray me with a can of Lysol and go running while I am gasping for breath. It may be your only chance of escape.
- Monarch Comics has a curbside pick-up option if you don’t feel comfortable coming into the store. Simply use Messenger to contact us or give the store a call and we will work with you to set up a time for pick up. As of this writing, no one has actually taken me up on the curbside offer and I am on tenterhooks waiting to see how it would work…lol.
Many people have questioned me this week about what is being done to bring the comic industry back online and when we can expect new product to make its way into the store. Well, the easy answer is “next week”. The rest of the explanation is a little more complicated. Understand that the comic industry more or less completely shutdown shortly after Ohio did so there was absolutely nothing moving through the system. Now that states are slowly opening up and businesses are preparing the New Normal it is going to take a couple of weeks for the industry to get up to speed again and you can expect to have relatively small shipping weeks through the month of June until the publishers can get their new shipping schedules together.
There will be no May Previews this year. The April Previews (with material originally scheduled to ship in June) initial orders are now due May 22nd. The June Previews will ship on 5/27 and will most likely contain solicitations for titles shipping in July/August, but at this point we can only wait and see.
As of today there are still a host of comics from DC and Marvel that have yet to be rescheduled. Know that I am (and have been) closely monitoring the situation and will pass any information on to you as soon as I receive it. Also understand that anything that you may have special ordered before our ordeal began should still be on order and coming in the store at some point.
Let me just say what a pleasure it was seeing everyone here in the store yesterday and today. I mean it, Folks, missed you terribly and even with the limited face time we have now the conversations I had yesterday was like a cool bucket of water after being trapped in the desert for two months. Here’s hoping we don’t get shut down again in a few weeks or months. At least now if we get shut down we have a little experience dealing with it. Frankly, I seriously doubt if the comic industry will shut down quite as completely the next time around and I want to let you know now that as long as Monarch Comics is receiving new product in the door we will continue to service you in the matter to which you’ve become accustomed.
Eddie